I was thinking about hiding my fin boxes by routing a little extra depth, then capping with another bit of balsa cut to fit. Would I be asking for trouble by not having that direct finbox-to-outer glass bond? Or would a good box-to-foam install be enough support to make up for that? Anyone try this?
Hi Shwuz
Balsa is very strong in compession along the grain and quite weak across the grain
So I would depend on a couple of things
If the balsa was very thin then the load would be more on the two glass skins
Or if you seal coat the area around the fin box with something like a thined epxoy so that the soft wood becomes a hard wood
I have tried both of these ways,they have worked but the better solution is to spread the load with another wood
Maple matches the colour of balsa quite well
Mike